1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a technique for determining a location of a user using an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN) service, and more particularly, to a method and system for collecting access point information in linkage with a mobile card payment system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of mobile communication techniques, studies have been actively conducted on location measuring techniques that measure a location of a mobile terminal in a communication network. Typically, a global positioning system (GPS)-based location measuring technique using satellites and a network-based location measuring technique using base stations have been widely employed.
The GPS-based location measuring technique has a disadvantage of requiring that a GPS receiver be mounted on a mobile terminal. Also, because the GPS-based location measuring technique was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for military use, a high-precision GPS-based location measuring technique is not publicly disclosed.
Although the network-based location measuring technique is advantageous in that it does not require that a GPS receiver be mounted on a mobile terminal, in comparison to the GPS-based location measuring technique, it is less accurate for a purpose of location measurement, because a location measurement error of up to several tens or several hundreds of meters may occur.
Meanwhile, the use of WLAN service is becoming more popular. The WLAN service enables users of mobile terminals to wirelessly connect to the Internet through a WLAN access point near the mobile terminals, such as, for example, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and the like, that have WLAN cards mounted therein. Recently, to meet the increasing demand for the WLAN service, installations of access points in buildings, such as large-scale shopping malls, and the like, have increased.
Because many access points have now been installed in buildings, a location of a mobile terminal can be measured by using the access points in buildings where a GPS-based location measuring technique could not otherwise be applied, and the measured location can provide higher accuracy than the conventional network-based location measuring technique using base stations.
Accordingly, research and development relating to a location measuring technique using an access point of a WLAN service has recently been flourishing. When performing location measurement using an access point, the most important consideration is construction of a database where access point information is organized and stored. In particular, it is generally true that the larger the number of items of access point information stored in the database and the higher the accuracy of the access point information, the higher the accuracy of location measurement.
To collect access point information, conventionally a scanning car is used to collect access point information while traveling on the road. Thus, only information relating to access points located along a path accessible by the scanning car is collected, and information relating to access points located in areas which are difficult to scan, such as, for example, the inside of a building, is not collected.
Because most access points are located inside buildings, this method of using a scanning car presents difficulties with respect to the purpose of thoroughly collecting information relating to access points, and in this context, when the collected access point information is used for measuring a location of a terminal or constructing a database, the accuracy of such a location measurement performed by using an access point may be reduced, thereby resulting in a deterioration in service quality.